The CW Orders a Full Season of ‘Arrow’ Based on DC Comics’ Emerald Archer

Someone at the CW must really, really like Oliver Queen. After a multi-year stint as a supporting character on the long-running Smallville, the television network has promoted Green Arrow to star status with the announcement of a series order for the hour-long show Arrow.Despite spending five years in Clark Kent's shadow during the sixth to tenth seasons of the surprisingly long-lived Superman-in-training series, Arrow isn't a spin-off of Justin Hartley's Smallville superhero. Instead, it's a reboot of the character developed by Green Lantern screenwriters Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim -- along with Fringe co-executive producer (and one-time Green Arrow and Black Canary comic writer) Andrew Kreisberg -- that'll star The Vampire Diaries' Stephen Amell as "billionaire playboy Oliver Queen," who returns to Starling City after five years of life on a remote island in the Pacific a changed man. From the CW's official description of the project:

While Oliver hides the truth about the man he's become, he desperately wants to make amends for the actions he took as the boy he was. Most particularly, he seeks reconciliation with his former girlfriend, Laurel Lance. As Oliver reconnects with those closest to him, he secretly creates the persona of Arrow – a vigilante – to right the wrongs of his family, fight the ills of society, and restore Starling City to its former glory. By day, Oliver plays the role of a wealthy, carefree and careless philanderer he used to be – flanked by his devoted chauffeur/bodyguard, John Diggle – while carefully concealing the secret identity he turns to under cover of darkness. However, Laurel's father, Detective Quentin Lance, is determined to arrest the vigilante operating in his city. Meanwhile, Oliver's own mother, Moira, knows much more about the deadly shipwreck than she has let on – and is more ruthless than he could ever imagine.

Given the name of Queen's own Alfred (Apparently, like Smallville, Arrow likes to play up the Batman-like qualities in the character's backstory), it looks like Andy Diggle and Jock's 2007 retelling of the character's origin in Green Arrow: Year One may be an influence on this particular version of the character.